Biodiversity Man

Guy Wallbanks at the Friends of the Earth Northern Gathering in July at Haworth Youth Hostel

State schools 'not providing group worship'

'Many state schools in England are not providing group worship, despite legislation making it a requirement, a survey suggests. The Comres survey for BBC local radio found 64% of the 500 parents questioned said their child did not attend daily acts of collective worship. 60% of the 1,743 adults asked said the legislation should not be enforced.'

I agree with them and have felt this for a long time. To me, enforcing ‘worship’ is appalling and this aspect should be separated from the activities it is linked with. The activities such as getting together and story telling (as long as the stories come from all over the world), and singing are great, but not enforced ‘worship’! If we got rid of this ludicrous element in schools, there would be no need to start all the various faith schools.

Here’s my secular version of that well known hymn (my favourite when I was small), All things bright and beautiful:

All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, we must care for them all….

riots (letter to local press)

Looking at TV film of riots in cities around England, we need to ask ourselves what sort of society has led to this sorry state of affairs. No one can condone the violence, looting and arson, but we do need to ask ourselves questions such as: Does our society value and promote peace and cooperation or does it value and promote war and acquisition of goods and status for the few? If the answer is the latter, then we should not be surprised at the violent and acquisitive behaviour of (a tiny minority of) young people.

The gulf between rich and poor in the UK is deeper than ever. Is this what we want? Inequality leads to unhappiness for all, both rich and poor. I have called on our local MP, Mr Stuart, to take a message to the emergency recall of Parliament that we need a real and careful review of what sort of society we want . What values does our society promote? If it promotes war (trade in arms etc), and a focus on consumer goods (‘growth’- on an exhausted planet) it will get just that, so we can only expect increasingly anti-social and fearful behaviour from everyone, particularly our young people.

Another world IS possible – but we will have to decide to make it happen. We need to really consider what we really want for ourselves and for our children.

sincerely,

Shan Oakes

Green Party

Diversity : bio and cultural

Diversity, whether bio or cultural, is key to sustainability. Monoculture is destructive of sustainability.

These photos were taken in my garden and its quite a wildlife haven (in the middle of a town). It runs on home-made compost, self seeded plants, and absolutely no pesticides or other poisons.

Yes, the 'lawn' has buttercups and daisies and other plants in it, but I prefer that to a pristine over-managed garden which depends on hours of labour or regular dousing with chemicals.

I use the garden as a metaphor for politics. Green political theory values cultural diversity because it's enriching, progressive and self-organising. Different perspectives inform each other which promotes healthy social progress. The opposite, where cultures are kept apart, leads to prejudice, isolation and antipathy, a blinkered view of the world, and, ultimately, war. What could be more destructive?

school veg patch

Here's an impressive veg patch at a primary school in south London...this should be a major part of the curriculum in my view. If we continue bringing kids up to think that food is made in supermarkets we're super-stuffed.

East Riding Council at it again

East Riding Council insists on behaving like Big Brother. This time it's harrassing a kitchen firm who have made an advertising board to fit the back of a bicycle. What about all the vans with their ads on the side? ERYC (and all 'authorities') should be supporting the bike culture. If only ERYC would get its aims straightened out: are they trying to make the world a better place or what? Yes, you're right - it's lack of vision and short-term money-grubbing as usual.

Gardening - East Yorkshire

I've been doing some gardening for a change - At least the neglect attracts wildlife... lots of frogs around, and a woodpecker (lesser spotted) turned up in the garden for the first time ever. There are birds nesting in every conceivable bushy bit. Have decided not to use lawn mower in future as its noisy and wastes energy - much nicer having a straggly lawn blending seemlessly with the edges...